Before Bills safety Damar Hamlin got up from the turf and collapsed last Monday night, he made a routine-looking tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins at the end of a 13-yard gain.
Hamlin’s collapse and the subsequent scene as medical personnel dealt with his cardiac arrest made it feel like anything but a routine tackle. On Thursday, Higgins said that “it’s been hard” because he was involved in the play and that feeling wasn’t helped by attempts to say Higgins had something to do with what happened to Hamlin.
Hamlin’s family called for that to stop and Higgins said he’s also spoken to Hamlin’s mother directly. He said she told him that “she’s thinking of me and praying for me and things like that,” which joined with Thursday’s positive news about Hamlin’s recovery to help the wideout find a better headspace.
“And suddenly she’s telling me that he’s OK. And just all the positive stuff,” Higgins said, via Mitch Stacy of the Associated Press. “I mean it feels good just knowing that he’s OK, he’s doing better, and it makes me feel better inside. . . . Everyone has been making me feel whole again. I talked to his mom and everything is OK, he’s doing good, so I’m in a good place right now.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen also said at his Thursday press conference that Higgins should not bear any blame for what happened and that “hopefully he found some relief today.”
Higgins said he was glad the game did not continue after Hamlin’s departure and called the entire night “hard to forget about,” but that the team does “have a job to do” this weekend against the Ravens.
